The B Word
by ClarityInObscurity
Summary: Marlene has a question for Tifa. A question Tifa doesn't expect.


Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of FFVII or make a profit from this story.

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She wasn't sure to make of the young teenager. She watched her as she paused in her homework and seemingly stared off. Looking in the direction that the girl stared in, she saw nothing of significance. It was just the wall where a picture from her wedding hung. She heard a sigh from the girl before she returned to her task of scribbling down notes at the coffee table in the living room.

Tifa blinked a couple times. This had been going on for a few days now. Marlene would come home from school, rather sedated, do her homework quietly, eat with the family, then go off to her room to do who knows what. Her vibrant self was missing. She was distracted and didn't pay attention to her surroundings. Was something wrong? Was someone picking on her? Was she depressed?

Shaking her head, Tifa was sure the girl would come around and tell her what was wrong eventually. She was 13-years-old now; she was a big girl. Tifa had to let her learn who she was and let her be herself, no matter what phases she went through. It wasn't like—

_Oh. Oh no._

Tifa's eyes widened as the cause of Marlene's state dawned on her. She should have seen it from the get-go! Tifa had suffered over it for many of her prepubescent years and even on into early adulthood. It was like an affliction, a disease. It corrupted the minds of young girls everywhere. The sighing, the lack of attention, the wistful looks. How could she have missed it?

_Boys._

Marlene had a boy on her mind.

Watching as Marlene closed her textbook and began stowing away the necessities for the next day, Tifa was at a loss of what to do. Her own mother had died long before they could ever have a discussion about boys. Her father had refused to talk on the subject. She didn't even know where to begin or even how to—

"Mom?" she heard a soft voice from the other side of the room. Tifa could feel her back and shoulders tighten. Marlene had a question, she knew that much. She only used that tone of voice when she was nervous and curious about something.

Fixing a little smile to her face, Tifa looked at Marlene. The girl's brown eyes were full of confusion and she bit at her bottom lip. This was going to be tough. "Yes, sweetie?"

"Could I…could I ask you something?"

Tifa forced herself to walk to where Marlene was, lowering herself to the ground on the other side of the table. "Of course. You know you can ask me anything."

"O-okay." Marlene looked down at her wringing hands. Her jaw twitched a couple times before she looked back up at Tifa, determination in her eyes. "When are you and Cloud going to have a baby?"

_Baby?!_

She wanted to talk about babies? About her and Cloud having babies? What gave her—

_Yuffie!_

That insufferable girl was at it again. She must have implanted the idea in Marlene's head somehow. She had never asked in the four years of her marriage to Cloud. With her sudden interest, there was no way that Yuffie did not have her sneaky, ninja hand in this. Just because Vincent got her knocked up didn't mean—

She heard Marlene clear her throat across from her. Tifa looked wide-eyed at the girl and grinned sheepishly. She realized then that her hands were fisted into the blue table runner. Letting it go, she smiled at Marlene. There was no need to startle the girl. "Well, Marlene, Cloud and I have just decided not to have one. Yet." She amended at the end.

"So you might have one then?" She asked hopefully.

"Maybe someday." Tifa folded her hands in her lap. "Why the sudden interest?"

Marlene's eyes darted off in another direction. "When I was babysitting Auntie Yuffie's twins, it was so much fun. And then I thought how much fun it would be to have a little sister." Her eyes lit up as she looked back at Tifa. "I could teach her all sorts of things! Like how to dress-up and put on make-up and how to fight. It would be a lot of fun."

Yeah, real fun, Tifa thought. She remembered visiting Yuffie shortly after the twins being born, how tired she was from all the nightly feedings and changings. Even Vincent looked like he was going to keel over from exhaustion and he was a veritable insomniac. At least one of the twins was crying at some point in time. At the time, Tifa knew she was not ready for that. And neither was the horrified looking Cloud that had been sitting next to her. He had looked rather terrified when Yuffie handed off a baby to him so she could go to the bathroom. He had most likely been wishing Sephiroth would descend into the room.

"Um…," Tifa said rather articulately. "We'll see." Looking at the time, she said, "Why don't you get your things up to your room and start to set up the table for dinner. Denzel and Cloud should be home soon."

Marlene nodded. "Okay!"

Tifa breathed a sigh of relief as Marlene ran off to her room. She fell back onto the rug on the floor and stared at the ceiling. Her thoughts were turning to plots of revenge -twins on a sugar high- when Cloud came home. He stared down at her curiously, his riding goggles perched on his forehead.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He arched an eyebrow at her with his inquiry.

"I don't know."

"Mind if I ask?"

"Only if you want to hear about babies."

Cloud promptly turned around and walked out of the living room.

"Me too, Cloud. Me too."


End file.
